The referenced album title of Part 39.1 was The Hunting Party by Linkin Park.

[s2_31.2: Part 39.2] Assembling The Resistance
<22121119>

Thursday, November 19th, 2212

Unknown Location, Russia.

20:13:01

Alex was waiting at the square she had planned to meet up at, which lay between a few buildings. The wait wasn't that long, when the sound of an inline-4 grabbed her attention. Looking around, she saw a red compact driving up to the square, parking by it. Having seen the car's design before, she walked up to the car and knocked on the window. The driver lowered it and looked out at her.

"Alex." Brandon greeted her. "Did everything go well?"

Knowing it was the person she was waiting for, Alex walked over to the passenger's side of the car, and got in. "I had no doubt that it would. The plan's still on."

Brandon's usual smile filled his face. "Fantastic."

"Oh, on a side note, did you bring my stuff?"

"Yeah, it's in the back. Ready to go?"

"Let's move."

A simple nod came as Brandon's response, as he started to drive to the final course in the F12000's 2212 roster: Vohl Square II, a course that was originally in the F9000, but was updated to match the F12000's rules and regulations. As such, the long course no longer had the open area, an enclosed track section filled the gap and closed it off. However, apart from that, the overall layout was largely the same as the old version, even using the old track portions, albeit upgraded from the old 2150's surfaces to use modern materials.

The two of them had arrived at the track, and met up with the rest of the Angelus employees, who were setting up for the final practice day.

"As a track, I cannot deny that it is solid at the very least. As an idea for the roster... no. This guy really wants a new F9000, more so than you did." Brandon commented.

"It's more so than you think, Brandon." Alex replied.

"?"

"It's not so much that he wants an F9000, more so that he has his new F9000. This is just the first season, so there's not that much in way of illegalities. For a comparison, the best example would be the debut season, the 2154 season."

"Hmm, you're right. That is why we must destroy this league before it gets to the truly horrible stuff."

"Definitely. But we must not bite off more than we can chew."

"If I didn't know that, I would be going straight for the league in the first place, not taking the time to meticulously go over the plan to get your team back."

"You have a point. Still, I appreciate your help."

"No problem."

He walked over to the technicians and mechanics working on setting up for the race, looking over their set-up and ensuring that everything was alright. Soon, though, it became late, so Brandon decided to leave for the night.

"There's nothing I need to stay here for. We're done for the night, you can continue any work that still needs to be done in the morning. See ya."

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<22121120>

Friday, November 20th, 2212

Vohl Square II, Moscow, Russia.

10:13:58

The next day, the final settings were made to the only craft Angelus brought, the one used by Gareth Ardos. Once it was complete, they decided to send him out, to get a feel for the course, and to make any fine adjustments to the craft's tuning. Due to the changes in the pilot line-up, when Gareth was called back for the first of his craft's fine-tuning, they decided to deviate from the norm.

"Alright, so before, we used to just tune the craft based on the data it sends back to us, but for this round, I'd like you to give us the feedback. What should we change and by how much?"

Gareth looked surprised. "Huh? Uh... I didn't know we were going to do it like that. But... perhaps, maybe..."

He made a note of how the craft handled, and gave suggestions on what they could do to prevent the negative parts, and how to improve the craft's overall speed through not only the corners, but the various complexes the course had. Such adjustments included how much the craft bounced on the track when moving over bumpy or hilly sections, the tilt angle when going through a corner and how fast it tilted, and the force the airbrake provided along with how long it took to completely deploy and retract.

The process to set the craft up to Gareth's liking took the whole day, going back and forth between going on the track and bringing it back for further fine-tuning, but it was ready for the qualifying round, and the race itself.

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<22121121>

Saturday, November 21th, 2212

Vohl Square II, Moscow, Russia.

14:09:35

For the qualifier, two different settings were used. One of those were the settings the team would have used had they used the data sent back, the other being Gareth's set-up. Both seemed to be fairly similar, but with the latter set-up, Gareth was able to post much faster lap times.

"...amazing. I never knew I had that in me!"

It was a very fast time indeed, but it wasn't fast enough to get pole position. However, Brandon spoke to him, giving him a sort of pep-talk.

"It is very fast... but I know this craft is capable of so much more. Keep going, I know you can do it. Push for pole."

"U-uh... okay. I'll t-... I'll do it."

"That's it." Brandon replied with a smile.

Gareth did push harder, and made full use of his own set-up. Unfortunately, he had slipped into his Zone mindset, and... zoned out. He had not realised until he heard people yelling into his communications system that he had actually set a league record 6 consecutive times.